Apart from cover songs - there have been a huge amount of bands/singers influenced by Wire over the years - Elastica spring to mind straight away with their use of the Three Girl Rumba riff - Blur with their recording of Song 2 & so on..., but who else is there out there that has actually gone as far as to use the same riff/idea?

Has anyone heard David Bowie's 'Dead Against It' on the Buddha Of Suburbia soundtrack? Well, have a listen to it if you can - then listen to Kidney Bingos and see what you think!

By 'eck I think I was barking up the wrong tree with Joy Division. I note Wire played the Factory Club a couple of times so I'm sure they would have been aware of Wire. but I suppose JD had already got their sound together by 78/79. Contemporaries, Both taking punk into interesting new directions but probably not influencing each other directly

I think Graham Lewis eluded to some New Order influence on mid 80s Wire at the Manchester Wiretalk but I didn't quite catch what he was saying as the annoying wireless mic had been discarded by then...it was possibly sarcastic!

I revisited The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys this past weekend and noted the similarities of those songs to Pink Flag.

Ladytron includes "The 15th" on their Softcore Jukebox CD that contains some favorites by the band, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wire has influenced them, even in a general aesthetic sense if not an outright musical influence.

Of course, Wire's early material rubbed off on R.E.M. in quite a few ways. My personal favorite American "post-punk" album, Pylon's Gyrate, goes in that direction as well.

My favourite American "post-punk" band is Wall Of Voodoo, who is vastly underrated who never get any mentions but the thing about American "post-punk" is so many of those bands were pigeonholed as "new wave" that lots of people just call them "new wave" when bands like Devo, Wall Of Voodoo shared a lot more common with Joy Division, PiL, Wire etc.

Robert Smith said he was a big Wire fan along with The Banshees and Joy Division.

There is a quote somewhere from Robert Smith of the Cure I recall reading where he mentions that after seeing Wire (possibly the Cure were support act for a gig?) it influenced the change in style from the faster, poppier 'Three Imaginary Boys' to the slower, more ponderous 'Seventeen Seconds'.

The Robert Smith quote in full. It's from a 1996 interview with 'Guitar World':

"It was actually seeing Wire that gave me the idea to follow a different course, to hold out against the punk wave. At the time, it was a lot easier just to play loud and fast, and that was a good night. Everyone went home talking about you. But even then, I felt, "We're gonna go down with the ship if we do that." Seeing Wire pointed out another direction to me. I didn't even especially like Wire - still don't - but this particular performance was just earth-shattering for me. We were supporting them at this small place, like a student thing. We played pretty badly; I was drunk and it was a shambles. We did "10.15" three times and no one really noticed. Then Wire came on, and during the first song about half the audience left. It was the most intense thing I thought I'd ever see - blinding white lights shooting straight into the audience and this incredible wall of noise. But it wasn't like thrash, just ponderous noise. Then they'd stop it and do little quiet bits. I thought it was really excellent.

I remember having a big row in the van with the others about it afterwards because they all thought it was shit, and I thought it was immense. That's what I wanted the Cure to do. It took about a year and a half - between going to play with the Banshees, Michael leaving the band, and Simon joining - before I got to the point where I had people around me who understood that as well. Simon got the idea of doing stuff that had lots of power but didn't have to be fast. I think that's really what the difference was. There's some medium-to slow-paced things on Three Imaginary Boys. At the time, you just didn't do that. "

You seem to be an expert on my tastes? I don't own a single Joy Division record! I suspect any influence was the other way round to be honest.

Damn, I love these moments. It's like the time in Annie Hall where Woody Allen is waiting in line behind a guy spouting off about Marshall McLuhan. Irritated, he pulls McLuhan into the frame to tell Mr. Grandiloquent that he just drew a blank.

Well you don't need to own a Joy Division record to be influenced by them but I guess I catch your drift.The thing with Ms Davidson and her late lamented headless chicken that kept on running, is that AHEAD got compared by some journalists to TEMPTATION.

This is probably what Lewis was having a quick verbal assault upon, maybe?